VENISON

ven'-i-z'-n, ven'-z'-n: Is derived (through the French venaison) from the Latin venari, "to hunt," and means properly "the spoils of the chase." As, however, the object of the chase, paragraph excellence, was the deer, venison came to mean usually (as it invariably does in modern English) "deer's flesh." But in English Versions of the Bible this technical force seems not to be implied, for "venison" is used only for the two Hebrew words tsayidh (Genesis 25:28; 27:5 ff), and tsedhah (Genesis 27:3), and both these words (from tsudh, "to hunt") mean simply "game" of any kind.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.